David Powers – aide to JFK

David ‘Dave’ Francis Powers (1912–1998) was Special Assistant to President of the United States John F. Kennedy during the latter’s term in office.

The son of immigrants from County Cork, Powers was born in 1912, in the Charlestown area of Boston – a waterfront district of three-decker tenements. His father died when he was 2, and at age 10 David got a job as a newsboy, a position that he later said helped him get to know nearly everyone in the area. He attended college at night before joining the Army Air Force in 1942. He served for three years in Asia before being discharged at the end of World War II as a master sergeant.

Mr. Powers was in the motorcade in Dallas when Kennedy was killed, and after the assassination, Mr. Powers remained close to the Kennedy family, visiting often with the slain President’s children, Caroline and John Kennedy Jr.